Never Have I Been Called To Make Greater Sacrifices

Insight to Come Follow Me - D&C 81-83

Where Much Is Given, Much Is Required



"Never have I spent a year with more Interest than 1840 never have I been called to make greater sacrifices or enjoyed greater Blessings. I have been called to make a sacrafize of the society of my wife & children not once beholding their faces, one of which is taken from time, (Sarah Emma is gone to be seen no more in this life) The whole year has been spent in a foreign nation combating error with everlasting truth, meeting with many contradictions of sinners who oppose themselves against the the Truth, Being stoned mobed & opposed, Yet the Lord hath blessed me with a great harvest of souls as seals of my ministry, many hundreds have received the word with joy & gladness & are now rejoicing in the new & Everlasting Covenant . . . "



The Treasure Box

Box made by Truman Angell for Wilford Woodruff, courtesy of Carolyn Woodruff Owen

One of the family heirlooms handed down to Wilford Woodruff’s descendants for more than a century was a hand-made wooden box. It was inherited by Wilford’s son Asahel, then his grandson Asahel and Asahel’s wife Ruth. Like many historical treasures, it languished in their basement for years. Its contents remained unknown until their daughter Carolyn Woodruff Owen received it in 1976.

The four-minute video below contains the interviews of Carolyn and her son Stephen Woodruff Owen and unfolds the story of how this treasure box was discovered and the priceless documents it contained.

Wilford Woodruff met Colonel Solomon Copeland in April 1835 while preaching in Paris, Henry County, Tennessee. On April 21st he records, “Preached at the house of Col Soloman Copeland Henry Co[unty] T[ennessee] Mrs [Sara Tippet] Copeland was healed by the laying on of hands.”

Wilford and Solomon continued their friendship during Wilford’s mission to the Southern States, and the Copelands hosted Wilford dozens of times as he rode his preaching circuit through Tennessee, Kentucky, and Alabama.

Nine years later, Colonel Copeland was asked to be Joseph Smith’s running mate in his bid for the U.S. presidency.